188 Chapter 6achievement with negative interpersonal
consequences?
Some studies have attempted to develop
more objective measures of the fear of achieve-
ment by asking people directly whether they
associate success with negative consequences,
including negative peer reactions, social iso-
lation, and pressure to live up to others’ ex-
pectations. Women tend to score higher than
men on these kinds of items (Fried-Buchalter,
1997). Early adolescent girls, in particular,
may still associate success with some negative
consequences. Bell (1996) held weekly discus-
sions with elementary school girls to identify
barriers to their success. She found that girls
felt achievement and affiliation were oppo-
sites, that one could not do both. She referred
to this as the “smart versus social” dilemma.
The girls feared that achievement would jeop-
ardize their relationships. Girls also identified
a second dilemma, “silence versus bragging.”
The girls said they often hide their success
because talking about it is like bragging and
might make other people feel bad. Thus a
concern for others and relationships keeps
the girls from announcing their achievements.
The girls also stated that they felt uncomfort-
able being singled out by a success because
their concerns were with establishing connec-
tions to others, not with differentiating them-
selves from others. The following exchange
between the group leader and one of the girls
illustrates these ideas (Bell, 1996, p. 422):Jane: (after receiving a compliment on a
science prize): Well, I don’t feel that great
when you say that to me because I feel like
everybody’s equal and everybody should
have gotten a prize no matter what they did.
I think Chris should have gotten it.
Myra: OK Jane, tell the group why you
didn’t say “I feel good about winning the prize.”
Jane: Well I feel like um, like everybody’s
looking at me and um saying, “Oh, sheconsequences with achievement. However, the
fear of success was associated with distinct neg-
ative consequences for women and men. For
women, the major negative consequence was
social rejection; for men, the major negative
consequence was self-absorption. Both led to
unhappiness. Interestingly, these two concerns
map onto the two negative gender-related traits
discussed in Chapter 2: unmitigated commu-
nion and unmitigated agency. Unmitigated
communion involves being overly concerned
with others and their opinions, whereas unmit-
igated agency involves being overly absorbed
with the self.
Horner (1972) found other indicators
of women’s fears of success. She noted that
high fear of success women performed worse
on a task when working with men than with
women, admitted they would prefer to tell
a male they receivedaCrather than an A
on an exam, and were more likely to switch
from nontraditional (e.g., lawyer) to tradi-
tional (e.g., teacher) college majors.
Horner’s (1972) work has been criticized
on many levels. Some have suggested that her
projective test actually indicates a discomfort
with gender-role-incongruent behavior rather
than a fear of success. It turns out thatboth
men and women write more negative stories
in response to Anne rather than John gradu-
ating at the top of the class. Both men and
women may be uncomfortable with the idea
of women being successful or may realize that
successful women face obstacles.Contemporary Literature. Most of the
studies on fear of success were conducted
in the 1960s and the 1970s. Is there any evi-
dence of a residual fear of achievement in
women or men today? Do today’s college
women feel uncomfortable outperform-
ing men? Do women hide their good exam
performances from friends, especially male
friends? Do women continue to associateM06_HELG0185_04_SE_C06.indd 188 6/21/11 8:10 AM